The Irresistible Deal- Chapter 3

Sometimes it’s easy to fall off the tracks. It starts with being too tired to go to the gym, then you become too tired to cook your own dinner or go to the cafeteria to eat something healthy, so you order take out, not long after that, you find yourself constantly snacking, during class, while you are studying or gaming… And then, it becomes an habit, one you tried really hard to break in the past, somehow succeed in the recent past, but is unable to do now due to your own hedonism.

There’s where Michael stood. He had worked so hard on his eating habits and gym routine during the first few months of college, managed to lose weight whereas all his mates where gaining the freshman 15, while still managing to keep excellent grades. The latter is still true, he is a brilliant student, but ever since he let his sweet tooth control him, it was over for his will and his old habits were back stronger then ever. The deal he had made with Jim was quite irresistible and at first he thought he would just keep eating in the same pace, a few Reese’s a day, a brownie once in a while, some salted caramel bars on the weekends… he was just glad he wouldn’t have to spend money on candy, and with his roommate also snacking on them, surely he wouldn’t eat that much, right?

Wrong. As time passed he found himself munching constantly, consuming sometimes an whole bag of candy provided by his new friend Jim entirely alone, simply because he needed to nibble on something while studying, gaming or watching tv. It didn’t help the amount of candy he was receiving was increasingly larger, due to all of the assignments his professors were giving. Seriously, it seemed they all knew his little deal with Jim and wanted him to have the most out of it to make up for his efforts. Not only was Michael snacking constantly on food, his body called for something salty at the end of day, to balance all the sugar he had consumed, and with his parents generous allowance not being spent, he had all the money he could have asked for to order take out… And it was always junk food, not once he ordered a proper meal from a restaurant.

Those newfound habits made sure his waist was expanding at a impressive speed. Michael had regained all the weight he lost during his first months of college and some, well, quite some more. His clothes were all tight around the middle, some of his jeans didn’t button anymore and he was left relying majorly on his bigger pants or sweatpants. Worse than that, he saw Kevin doing so well on his routine, all the weight he gained was quickly being lost and he didn’t snack anymore, this gave Michael some hope, he was once fat and lost a bunch of weight as well, he could do it again, just like Kevin! If his roommate managed to find the time in between classes and lab duty to work out, so could he!

But of course, that wasn’t going to happen anymore. Michael woke up on the couch on Saturday wearing only his briefs, with a bunch of candy wrappers around him, an empty pizza box, a plate with half eaten brownies and a bag filled with candy on the coffee table. As he was waking up, he remembered last night’s binge. He didn’t mean to eat that much, he didn’t mean to order pizza… But he did. “well, at least there’s this bag still full and the ones on the kitchen counter” he thought, but again, he was wrong.

He stoop up and scratched his hairy underbelly and went straight to the kitchen, only to find the counters empty. There was not a single bag of candy there… He opened the fridge looking for the strawberry and buttercream half eaten cake or the salted caramel bars and again, there was nothing there. Was he hallucinating and there was never that much candy and dessert around the dorm? Was this week’s bags of candy smaller for some reason? No… that couldn’t be it. Michael decided to check on his roommate Kevin who might know how much candy bags he had gotten this week since he was also living there… But when he opened his roommate’s bedroom door, he found the most abnormal thing that left him in absolute awe.

He found Kevin heavily sleeping, with so many candy wrappers around him that he looked like a hoarder who had a special interest in candy packaging. There was two dirty plates on the floor and as he approached his roommate, he could see frosting around his lips, alongside small crumbles of what once were caramel bars… In a state of utter shock, he tried to quietly exit the room but, considering how clumsy he was, he had to hit his little finger on the bed’s legs and scream out the pain, which immediately woke up Kevin.

Still half awake Kevin raised his eyebrows and tried to stare at the figure next to him, once he recognized Michael, he was only able to say “Water, please”, in a very dry voice. Michael got a cup of water for his roommate and locked himself on his bedroom afterwards, embarrassed of what happened and half disappointed he had already finished all of Jim’s assignments, so he would have to wait at least a weak for more free candy… or… maybe he could get it sooner if he explained the situation to Jim and asked for more… they were friends now so he might want to help him. With a newfound hope, he texted Jim:

“Yo Jim! Good morning! How are you doing today?”

Literally seconds later, Jim replied and they started chatting:

“Sup dude, doing great hbu?”

“I’m kind of bummed…”

“What happened man? Do you want to vent or some shit like that?”

“Yea… I always save my salted caramel bars and the cake you bring me for the weekend… I was looking forward to eating that today alongside the rest of the candy. But when I woke up there wasn’t anything left, Kevin had eaten it all, I found him passed out on his bed, his bedroom looked like a pigsty….”

Jim smirked in his house and felt a growing sensation on his lower countries:

“Kevin? You don’t say! He was doing so great at the gym…”

“yeah right?”

“Do you want more candy? I can go to the candy shop and fix you some stuff”

“That would be so amazing”

“Have you had breakfast yet?”

“No… not really”

“Want to grab a bite at IHOP and then head to the shop? I know Lucy made some salty caramel bars today, and there are some brownies and a devil’s cake from yesterday we can’t legally sell”

“OMG YES THAT SOUNDS AMAZING”

“Neat! Meet me at the parking near our dorm in like 15 minutes”

“OKAY”

Michael got super excited, it was the first time he and Jim were doing something by themselves alone… And ever since they started getting to know each other, he started to have a major crush on him… and… who knows, maybe he could turn that lil hang out on a date? He put on some sweatpants, a very baggy sweatshirt and his old pair of crocs and rushed to the parking lot.

The day was quite cold and cloudy, the wind was blowing strongly which made his sandy blonde hair all messy. He found Jim standing next to his car, the jock smirked as soon as he saw Michael and hugged him tightly:

“Good morning big guy, you look amazing! Are those sweatpants new?” Jim noticed they were getting tight around the thighs, which was a lot to say for sweatpants.

“Hah thank you so much! You also look amazing… And no… they are quite old, it’s just that hum… hum… the weather is getting colder and jeans are not warm enough.”

“They sure aren’t buddy” Jim smiled teasingly, knowing sweatpants were probably the only thing fitting Michael.

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes! That sounds great! To ihop we go!”

They arrived at ihop and Michael’s nostrils were immediately struck by all the delicious smells. He could smell the crisp fried bacon, the scrambled eggs, the pancakes… oh… the pancakes with maple syrup… The pair was seated on a booth by the window and for his surprise, their waiter was one of his friends from his dungeon and dragons campaign:

“Derek! It’s so nice to see you!” Michael smiled warmly “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Yeah man I started last month… College has been mental, and with this new job I didn’t have time to set up our new rpg campaign yet” Derek took a closer look on his friend and was surprised by his fuller face… Michael was the one who always prided himself on never getting the Freshman 15… How the tables have turned.

“No worries dude! But we do need to hang out more! Is everyone okay? I know you are roommates with Brian” Michael noticed Derek staring at his fuller face and knew everyone in his friend group would tease him as well…. Maybe not Brian, he was the fattes guy Michael knew, easily weighing around 380 lbs, he definitely wouldn’t judge him.

“All I can say is Brian is doing great! We have mostly been gaming since we really can’t go out due to our college stuff… But anyways… What will you too order?”

Jim scrolled through the menu trying to find the most fattening dishes to push towards Michael:

“I would like some harsh browns and some bagels, please…. and out good friend Michael will have the Country Fried Steak & Eggs, and extra large bacon portion and two chocolate muffins.”

“Will that be all?” Derek looked at Michael hoping he would take some items from that order… it was way too much food and he got slightly concerned for his friend.

“Actually… I would like to add some more pancakes… I know the Country Fried Steak & Eggs only come with two… Is that okay Jim?”

“Absolutely buddy! Order from your heart desires! My treat! That will be all Derek” Jim really didn’t like him, they were taking an elective together and Derek was not only annoying but a know it all who desperately tried to be the teacher’s pet.

Derek left and they started chatting about college and how much assignments the professors were giving, the professors they liked, the ones they hated, very casual stuff but Michael noticed Jim staring at his man boobs when he took off the sweatshirt. The food arrived and it all looked delicious and he could sense all the wonderful smells coming from the fresh fast food dishes.

“Bon appetit!” Jim smirked while taking a small bite from his harsh browns.

“Bom appetit!”

Once Michael tasted the golden-battered beef overflowing with gravy, he got lost in his own greed. He started shoveling food down his throat like he hasn’t eaten in weeks, the flavors were melting on his tongue, his nostril were having a ball at all the delicious smells coming from his food and his belly was feeling warm and fulfilled after hours of not eating. He was in a trance… When he got to the extra large portion of bacon, he started shoveling more than one at a time, they were crisp even the sound of them breaking made him want to eat more… He kept eating and eating and when he was done, it was time for dessert and he eyed the chocolate muffins like they were long time lovers meeting again for only a night, and seconds after that, he managed to shove an entire chocolate muffin at once, he was so greedy he could feel all eyes on him.

When he was finally done, he saw Jim starstruck, staring at him with his deep green eyes like he has never been more impressed in his life.

“That was quite a show… You must have been hungry Michael.”

“You have no idea! I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

“I could tell… I could tell… Well, I’m going to pay our bill and then we can head to the shop and fix you some more bags of candy, plus those caramel bars and devil’s cake… I’m sure it will be more than enough for the weekend.”

“Jim… won’t your parents notice how much candy you are giving to me? It’s been a lot.”

“Oh do not worry, the candy shop is extremely successful, and since most things, apart from classic candy like Reese’s and chocolate bars, are made by your pastry chefs, and it has to be consumed daily. So at the end of my shift I just grab everything that hasn’t been bought and give it to you… As for the candy and chocolate bars, I have to restock them twice a week, now, I’m restocking it three times, it’s not that big of a difference.”

“I see! Well, I’m glad I’m not going to bankrupt you!”

“You could be 400 lbs fatter and 10x times greedier and you still wouldn’t be able to get close from bankrupting me” Jim smirked and gave Michael a little pat on the belly.

They headed to the candy shop and Jim fixed him a ton of candy, plus the devil’s cake and the salted caramel bars. When Michael got home, the caramel bars were already gone and the cake was missing some of the frosting. As soon as he saw the state of the dorm, he was again in shock, Oscar was laying on the couch binge watching Lord of the rings while eating the biggest McDonald’s order he has ever had. That didn’t seem like his roommate, but something awoke inside of him, and instead of asking if everything was okay, he just dropped everything on the counter and sat on the couch.

“Hey bro, how are you?”

“I’m doing great, just watching my favorite saga!” Kevin said with a mouth full of fries

“I could tell! You are hungry huh! Haven’t seen you order Mc in a few months.”

“Yeah! I just felt like eating some fast food today, hope you don’t mind all the wrappers and stuff.”

“No worries dude! Also, Jim fixed me a ton more candy and a cake, so don’t feel guilty for last night’s binge.”

“Aw man that is amazing! I was feeling so upset with myself when I woke up, I know how much you liked the strawberry cake and salted caramel bars… But since you have more candy now we can eat together… if you want to share of course.”

“Yeah man! Let’s do it! We should order more takeout, how do you feel about ordering 3 pizzas and garlic bread for lunch? We can watch Game of Thrones or play some shit.”

“Dude that sounds amazing! Let me just *buuuuuuurp* finish these nuggets and burgers and we can order it”

“That was a good one! What should we order for dinner?”

“Jeez…. Hum… I do not know… how do you feel about Chinese?”

“Let’s fucking do it! Oh wait, won’t you get too bloated to go to the gym? I was hoping to join you today and maybe we can be gym buddies”

“Ah fuck that, who cares at this point? I’m still super skinny.”

Michael looked down at his belly, jiggled it feeling defeated and sighed:

“Well, then I guess we can order Chinese.”

“Yeaahhh! *Buuuuuurp* Maybe let’s order more McDonald’s for dinner, it’s cheaper, we can get twice the food for the same price.”

Feeling somewhat surprised and disappointed with his roommate, Michael sighed “You’re right, let’s get more McDonald’s then.”

“Goo… *Buuuuuurp* good” Kevin patted his small pudge “Sorry, I drank way too much Coca Cola”

“I could tell, piggy.”

“Hahahaha oink oink I gues” Kevin said, without understanding why that made him slightly aroused.